| Fantasy Theme Analysis is an approach to doing rhetorical criticism that arose in the early 1980s. It provides a lens through which we can view and understand decidedly postmodern rhetoric that is fragmentary and devoid of any one specific author. Rather, the kind of rhetoric that FTA works with is that of the group where multiple voices produce themes that lead the critic to the rhetorical vision that guides that group. Unfortunately, FTA is an approach that seems to have come before its time; it was developed before the digital communication context where such fragmentary rhetoric is the norm as opposed to the exception. With this dissertation, I argue that FTA is particularly well suited to the new digital environment because the text is less fixed, more ephemeral, and less attributed to a specific author. In order to support this argument, I put FTA in conversation with such relevant philosophies as Kenneth Burke's dramatism and theories such as Agenda Setting Theory. I then examine three unique case studies that highlight different facets of FTA that prove its use in the digital context. Through this analysis, we ultimately see how a pre-existing approach to doing rhetorical criticism may be updated and applied to current rhetorical contexts. |
